Homecoming
by xPeterPanNeverFailsx
Summary: Sequel to Now You're Gone. Naruto left the village after telling Hoshi he loves her in a letter. Now it's time for a happy reunion…or is it? Naruto/OC. Song by Hey Monday. Slight OOC Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song.


**Sequel to Now You're Gone. Naruto left the village after telling Hoshi he loves her in a letter. Now it's time for a happy reunion…or is it? Naruto/OC. Song by Hey Monday. **

**Appearance wise- Hoshi has sky blue hair and silver eyes. **

_**Homecoming, I'm coming**_

_**My sweet mistake**_

_**Summer's over**_

_**Hope I'm not too late**_

Naruto looked up at the gates of the Leaf Village looming above his head. "I'm finally home." He sighed. "I can't believe that it's been almost three years."

Next to him, Jiraya laughed. "It has been a long time. Are you happy to be back?"

Naruto smiled his signature grin. "Of course!" Naruto ran to the top of the tall pole he was currently standing next to. "That's right Leaf Village! Naruto Uzumaki is back!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

_I wonder how Hoshi is going to react to me being back. I hope she'll be as happy to see me as I am to see her. _He thought as he swayed in the breeze atop the pole.

"Naruto! Naruto, is that you?" Sakura's shout broke him Naruto out of his musings. He immediately jumped down to greet her on the ground.

"Hey, Sakura. How are you?" Naruto asked.

"I'm good. Geez Naruto, you haven't changed a bit." She said giggling. "What about me? Do I look any different to you?" she asked almost shyly.

"No. You look pretty much the same, Sakura." At this, Naruto got a punch to the face.

_Damn, Naruto knows nothing about women…_ Jiraya thought.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, removing his face from the dirt. "Where is Hoshi?"

Sakura jolted, as if she had just been shocked, at Naruto's question. "W-well…um…" Sakura stuttered. She paused.

"What?" Naruto pressed.

"She- she's cloud watching with Shikamaru. But Naruto…" However, Naruto had already raced off to go find Hoshi with a short 'Thanks, Sakura' shot over his shoulder as he ran away.

Sakura watches sadly as he ran away, fully knowing he wouldn't like what he saw when he found Hoshi.

_**I'm pacing, impatient, up in my head**_

_**Taken back to sidewalk where we met**_

_**And carved out our names**_

_***Flashback***_

_Hoshi was sopping wet and curled into a ball next to the front gate when Sakura found her. The rain had been pouring for the last three hours. _

_There had been a slight let up in the rain, in which Sakura had run over to Hoshi's apartment, hoping to wait out the storm with her friend. When she arrived, Sakura found Hoshi's door ajar and all the things she had bought earlier strewn across the floor. Immediately, Sakura's senses want on alert. After searching the apartment for her friend, she ran out into the street in search of the girl._

_Sakura finally managed to locate a faint chakra trail once outside. She quickly followed it until she stumbled out of the trees to the front gate._

"_Hoshi." She whispered, when she spotted her friend sobbing on the ground, soaking wet. "Hoshi, get up. We have to go back to your apartment." Hoshi mechanically complied, rising to her feet. _

_Sakura helped her friend as she stumbled back through the trees to her home. At one point, Hoshi stopped in a small clearing. "We met here. This will always be our place. See? Our names are carved in that tree over there." Sakura could only nod and usher her friend further through the trees._

_Hoshi didn't notice when Sakura led her into her apartment. She didn't notice when Sakura helped her change into dry clothes. And she didn't notice when Sakura helped her into bed._

_Sakura did notice the tear streaks down her best friend's face. She did notice the numb look in her eyes. And she did notice the piece of paper that Hoshi refused to let go of._

"_He's gone, Sakura. He's gone." Hoshi whispered._

_Sakura didn't know what she was talking about, so she just nodded. "Go to sleep, Hoshi. We can talk in the morning." Hoshi nodded and closed her eyes._

_As soon as Sakura was sure that her friend was asleep, she took the note from her grasp and read it. Remorse for her friend and fury at Naruto coursed through her. Sakura looked over at the sleeping girl on the bed next to her. _

"_I'll help you get through this, Hoshi. I promise." She whispered. _

_***End Flashback*** _

_**Do you remember that?**_

Sakura shuddered at the horrible memory. She had never seen Hoshi so broken as in the moment, and she hoped she never would again. _Damn it, Naruto. If you mess this up again, I'm going to kill you._

***With Naruto***

Naruto dashed to the hill where he knew Shikamaru loved to watch clouds. He wanted to surprise them both, so he came to a stop far enough away that he could sneak up on the pair of cloud-gazers. He heard voices coming from the clearing, so he knew he was in the right place. He stopped short when he heard his name.

Naruto peeked around a tree so he could see the two talking. What he wasn't expecting to see was Shikamaru propped against a tree with Hoshi leaning against his chest in between his legs. Shikamaru was playing with a loose strand of her blue hair. Naruto strained to hear their conversation.

"You know, Naruto is supposed to be coming back any day now." Shikamaru stated.

"Really?" she asked. "Well, I'm more focused on the fact that it's our one year anniversary, Shika." She smiled and kissed Shikamaru.

"I know." He stated, smiling at her. "I have a present for you." Hoshi's eyes widened as he pulled out a mini kunai on a thin silver chain.

"It's beautiful, Shika." She pressed her lips to his once again. "But, now I feel bad. I didn't get anything for you."

Shika laughed. "That's alright."

"No it's not." She pouted. "I know! How about I buy-"

Naruto couldn't take it anymore- he stepped out into the clearing. "Hoshi?" he called, tears lacing his voice.

Hoshi's head whipped around to stare at the blond across the clearing. "Naruto."

The two stared at each other for a few moments. _I guess I should have expected this to happen, considering the way I left._ By now tears had started to run down his face. "But that doesn't stop the pain." He whispered the last part to himself. Then he bolted off into the trees so that they wouldn't see him cry.

_**I'm coming home, I'm coming home**_

_**Did you take off while I was gone?**_

Sakura had gone to Ichiraku's as soon as Naruto had left her, knowing that that was the first place he would run to when he found out about Hoshi and Shikamaru. She had been right, too. Naruto came bursting through the curtain ten minutes after she had sat down, tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I tried to tell you." Sakura said to the downcast boy.

"No. It's alright. I should have expected this. But still…can you tell me how she reacted to the letter I gave her? I at least want to know if I ever even had a chance." He pleaded.

Sakura nodded, disappointed that both of her best friends had been so hurt, and began telling Naruto everything that had happened with Hoshi since he had left.

_**I missed it all, I messed you up**_

_**I missed you**_

_***Flashback***_

_Sakura had moved in with Hoshi so that she could keep an eye on her friend and prevent her from doing something stupid. And after nearly eighteen months, Sakura had almost accomplished her goal. She could tell that Hoshi was healing, albeit slowly._

_After six months, Sakura had deemed Hoshi fit enough to start taking missions again. Within those six months, Hoshi put everything she had into her training; even defeating Neji in her more anger fueled sparring matches._

_Unfortunately, after Naruto's departure, Hoshi had found less and less reason to smile anymore. She almost always wore a neutral face around the village and at home. _

_So it was understandable when, one day, about a year ago, Hoshi came bursting through the door to the apartment wearing a grin so big, Sakura was afraid her face might split in two. _

"_You'll never guess what just happened." Hoshi giggled as she came and sat next to Sakura on the couch._

_This, of course, made Sakura extremely curious to know what could have possibly made her friend so happy after a year and a half of anger and depression. "What?"_

"_Shikamaru asked me to dinner tonight." She squealed. "And then said we could go star-gazing after. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"_

_Once again, Sakura was shocked. She had known that the genius had begun to develop feelings for the blue- haired kunoichi, but she never would have guessed that Hoshi would ever return his feelings. Mainly because Shikamaru and Naruto are complete opposites. _

"_Sakura?" Hoshi asked, confused as to why her friend hadn't responded yet._

"_Oh! Sorry, I got lost in thought." She brushed off Hoshi's reproachful look. "Yeah, that's fantastic. I'm glad you found someone that can make you happy. He'll be good for you." She said sincerely. She meant it too. She hadn't seen Hoshi this happy since that last day…_

_Sakura was right, too. Thanks to Shikamaru, Hoshi seemed to be returning back to her old self. She was smiling more, and had managed to reignite old friendships that she had brushed off before._

_Sakura just hoped that nothing happened to destroy what Hoshi had obtained._

_***End Flashback*** _

_**I'm coming home, I wanna know**_

_**When all the leaves begin to fall**_

_**If I'm falling, falling apart**_

_**For you**_

"I'm glad." Naruto said, attempting a smile. "She's happy. That's all that matters." Naruto stood up and walked out of the ramen shop. _I had my chance- and I lost it. She's happy now. _ He set himself in no particular direction, just walking for the hell of it.

***With Hoshi***

Hoshi looked after Naruto as he ran away. "Naruto." She whispered to no one. _He's really back._

"Hoshi?" Hoshi slowly turned her head back to look at Shikamaru.

"Shika, I-" She started, but was quickly cut off.

"Don't. It's alright. Go after him. I'll be alright." Shikamaru said softly. "I can tell you love him. So, go get him."

Hoshi thought for a moment before she kissed Shikamaru one last time. "Thank you, Shika. You don't know what this means to me."

"I think I do. Now, go." He urged.

Hoshi nodded and ran off into the trees.

_**You've got control of me**_

_**Is this the end of me?**_

'_**Cause I just can't cut up the strings**_

Before Naruto noticed, Naruto found himself in the clearing in the trees where he and Hoshi had met. He stopped and stood in the middle of the clearing, staring at the spot where they had carved their names into one of the trees. All it read was _Hoshi + Naruto_, but it was still something he was incredibly proud of.

Hoshi felt his whirling chakra before she saw him. Instantly, she ran in the direction that she knew would lead her to Naruto. _He's back! I have to catch him. Naruto._ She ran faster. _You're not going to get away from me this time, Naruto. _Soon, she spotted him standing in the clearing.

"Naruto!" she yelled as loud as she could.

Naruto stopped, confused. "Hoshi?" he turned around slowly….. only to have her leap into his arms in a bone- crushing hug.

"Naruto, you idiot. I love you. How could you just leave like that? Without so much as a goodbye?" Hoshi kept babbling, but Naruto had stopped listening.

_She loves me. _That one sentence kept repeating itself in his head as he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her, quickly silencing her. Once the initial shock wore off, Hoshi was quick to respond, kissing him back hard. Naruto licked her bottom lip, asking for entrance, which Hoshi gladly granted.

"I love you, Hoshi." Naruto panted when the two parted for air. "I'm so sorry. F-for leaving, for not telling you how I felt, for-" Hoshi put a finger to his lips to stop him.

"It's alright, Naruto. You're here now and that's what matters." She mumbled against his chest.

Naruto grinned. "I love you, Hoshi."

"I love you, Naruto. And I don't think anything could ever change that."

_**I'm coming back for more**_

_**Don't let your heart go**_

_**Please don't walk away**_

Naruto kissed her again, more softly.

"Just, promise me you won't leave me again, Naruto. I don't think I could take it." Hoshi whispered against his lips, fear lacing her voice.

Naruto smiled. "I promise. I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
